Birth of the White movement Following the
October Revolution, the Bykhov prisoners decided to escape to the
Don region, the traditional homeland of the
Don Cossacks, where General Alekseev had begun to organize an anti-
Bolshevik force. On 19 November, the acting Supreme Commander, General
Nikolai Dukhonin, ordered their release just before he himself was brutally murdered by Bolshevik sailors. Denikin traveled in disguise, posing as a Polish nobleman, and after several weeks of evading
Red Guard patrols, he reached
Novocherkassk on 5 December. Alekseev's organization, which consisted of a few hundred officers, was severely short of funds and faced the hostility of the local Cossack population, who feared being drawn into a civil war. The arrival of General Kornilov on 19 December, followed by Denikin and other generals, gave the nascent organization new life. On Christmas Day, 1917, the
Volunteer Army was officially created, with Kornilov as its commander. Tensions arose between Alekseev and Kornilov over leadership. On 31 December, Denikin brokered a compromise which was accepted by the generals and became the "constitution" of the new army: Alekseev would be responsible for civilian and foreign affairs, Kornilov would take military command, and the Don Ataman,
Aleksei Kaledin, would administer the Don territory, with a triumvirate of the three holding ultimate authority. Denikin was appointed commander of the 1st "Volunteer" Division. Amid the unrest in Novocherkassk, he married Xenia Chizh on 7 January 1918 in a small, private ceremony.
First Kuban Campaign By late January 1918, facing pressure from the advancing
Red Army and the collapse of Cossack resistance, the Volunteer Army was forced to abandon the Don. On 9 February, the army of about 4,000 men began its epic retreat, known as the
Ice March, toward the
Kuban, hoping to join with local Cossack forces. The campaign was a severe test of endurance. The Volunteers, burdened with their families and wounded, marched through freezing rain and snow, fighting continuous battles against superior Red forces. On 13 April, during the storming of
Ekaterinodar, the capital of the Kuban, General Kornilov was killed by a stray shell. Denikin, as deputy commander, assumed leadership of the army. He made the difficult decision to break off the assault and retreat, a move that saved the beleaguered army from destruction. After a series of rearguard actions, he led his forces back across the Don River and established a base in the southeastern Don region by early May. The First Kuban Campaign, despite achieving no immediate military objectives, preserved the core of the White movement. Its heroism and the sacrifices of its participants, the
pervopokhodniki (First Campaigners), became legendary within the White movement.
Commander-in-Chief In June 1918, Denikin launched the
Second Kuban Campaign. The Volunteer Army, reinforced by
Kuban Cossacks and a detachment under Colonel
Mikhail Drozdovsky, defeated superior Red forces and captured Ekaterinodar in August. General Alekseev died of illness in September 1918, leaving Denikin as the sole commander. The government apparatus in the territories under Denikin's control, known as the
Special Council, was established after the capture of Ekaterinodar but was beset by political challenges. The relationship with the pro-German Don Cossacks under Ataman
Pyotr Krasnov was fraught with tension, as Denikin was staunchly pro-Ally. Furthermore, Denikin's uncompromising commitment to "a great, united, and indivisible Russia" became a major political liability, alienating potential allies like the Kuban Cossacks, who sought autonomy, and leading to disastrous conflicts with the newly independent states of
Georgia and
Ukraine. by the
Volunteer Army, June 1919 In January 1919, Denikin assumed the title of Commander-in-Chief of the
Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR). During the spring of 1919, his forces checked a major Red offensive in the
Donbas region. In May, a series of counter-offensives routed the Red armies. The army grew rapidly; from May to October 1919, the number of soldiers increased from 64,000 to 150,000. On 20 June, Denikin issued the "Moscow Directive", ordering his armies to advance on a broad front with the ultimate objective of capturing
Moscow. Initially,
the offensive was a spectacular success. The Whites took the cities of
Kharkov,
Tsaritsyn,
Kiev,
Kursk, and, on 30 September,
Voronezh and
Orel. By October, Denikin's forces were within 350 kilometres (220 miles) of Moscow. However, his armies were overstretched, their supply lines were precarious, and their rear was plagued by peasant uprisings, particularly the anarchist movement of
Nestor Makhno. The advance into Ukraine was also accompanied by waves of brutal antisemitic
pogroms, primarily carried out by Cossack units of the Volunteer Army. Denikin was not personally antisemitic and issued orders forbidding pogroms, but they were not enforced. His propaganda agency, Osvag, was transformed into a rabidly antisemitic organization which spread vicious propaganda and tolerated extremists in its ranks. The pogroms, which resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, devastated Jewish communities, undermined the discipline of the White Army, and discredited the movement internationally. In late October, a reinforced Red Army under the new command of
Alexander Yegorov launched
a counter-offensive. The Whites were decisively defeated in a series of battles at Orel and Voronezh. This marked the turning point of the war on the southern front. The White armies began a long and bloody retreat. The Special Council collapsed amid corruption and growing political infighting. The relationship between Denikin and General
Pyotr Wrangel, commander of the
Caucasian Army, deteriorated, with Wrangel openly challenging Denikin's leadership. By March 1920, the remnants of the White armies were cornered in
Novorossiysk. The evacuation by sea, conducted under fire from the Reds and amid scenes of chaos, was a catastrophe. Thousands of soldiers and civilians were left behind. A plot by officers of the Kornilov Division to assassinate Denikin's chief of staff,
Ivan Romanovsky, whom they blamed for the defeat, and depose Denikin himself, finally precipitated his decision to resign. On 4 April 1920, in the
Crimea, Denikin resigned his command in favour of General Wrangel and left Russia aboard a British warship. ==Life in exile==